Find My Catalyst Podcast

This is the first in a series of short episodes where we will focus on specific topics that are relevant to today's working environment. Many of us are making the transition to remote work, working from home, leading distributed teams, navigating our own personal experiences. Dr. Erin Weiss is Clinical Psychologist, practicing in the Houston area. She joins me today to discuss Empathy. Questions Addressed What is Empathy? What are some common mistakes we make when thinking about Empathy? Why do we make these mistakes? How can we avoid these mistakes? How does this change when thinking about Empathy in the context of working from home or remote work? How does this change when thinking about Empathy in the context of Teams, Customers, and Self? Show Links David and Ehrin on the Sales Success Podcast Dr. David Burns Dr. Kristin Neff Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide at https://www.catalystsale.com

Sales Career Guide Mike is joined by Andy Racic and David Weiss authors of Your Definitive Sales Career Guide. On this episode they discuss why they decided to write a book about a career in sales, and how to execute if this is something you are interested in exploring. Questions Asked: Why do people avoid the Sales Profession? It seems as though colleges are starting to bring in Sales Programs, will this trend continue? What are some of the messages in the book that are resonating with professors? How do you distinguish between Sales and Marketing? What are the gaps that this book fills? Who should buy the book? Key Takeaways: Several myths still hover over the Sales profession People generally don't have an understanding of what modern professional Sales is Schools are interested as the importance of the Sales function within a company becomes more apparent Sales can be a great foundational career. Being in Sales teaches you several cross-functional skills Marketing tends to be one to many whereas Sales tends to be one to few or one to one Marketing empowers Sales to have more conversations with clients The book provides tips and tricks on how to be successful in sale, dispels myths and walks through how to get a job Business school professors looking to build a Sales program would benefit greatly from reading this book Show Links Your Definitive Sales Career Guide on Amazon www.salescareerbook.com Andy on LinkedIn David on LinkedIn Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course

Ford vs Ferrari - Discussion with Jeff Bajorek This week on the Jeff Bajorek joins Mike to discuss one of the best movies of 2019 - Ford vs Ferrari. They share lessons that you can apply to Sales, Business, and Life, that come from the meeting. He's Jeff Bajorek - he'll help you rethink the way you sell®. I'm Mike Simmons - I build sales machines. Key Takeaways Put yourself in the shoes of your customer, employee, team. Ride alongs are important. Ask questions to confirm context. Live to fight another day. It's about the team. Do the Work. Show Links jeffbajorek.com The Why & The Buy Podcast - http://thewhyandthebuy.com/ Jeff's Twitter - https://twitter.com/jeffbajorek Jeff's Website - https://www.jeffbajorek.com/ Catalyst Sale Link Tree Mike's Twitter - https://twitter.com/simmons_m Ford v Ferrari Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course

Managing Director and Partner, Two Sigma Ventures - Villi Iltchev This week Villi Itchev joins Mike to discuss diversity in experience, investment, entrepreneurship, remote work, and lessons learned. Villi has a multi-fadeted background to include: investment banking with Merrill Lynch, mergers and acquisition with Salesforce, an executive with Lifelock, and head of strategy with Box. Questions Discussed How does Villi's background influence his approach to investment and research? How have his experiences rounded out his thinking? How does venture continue to innovate and transform? Why is it a great time to be a founder? What are some common misconceptions around investment? How will venture continue to evolve? What options are there for various types of investment? Why do we get drawn into the idea that we need to take on funding to build out to scale, or I'm less than? How will the future of remote work impact organization growth & culture? What inspired Villi's post on ARR being a vanity metric? How do you see the landscape of technology & software evolving over the next 15 years? Key Takeaways Massive transportation within venture. The competitive nature of venture is commoditizing the asset class. A data oriented approach is required. The ones that are standing still (just like any industry) are being marginalized It's a great time to be a founder - it takes little investment to get started and you can make a lot of progress on your own prior to raising capital. There are an abundance of capital sources with different risk profiles. Best way to get started is family & friends. After you make progress start to look at traditional Angel & Seed financing - be honest with yourself about the type of company you are building. There are plenty of opportunities to build companies. There is nothing shameful in building something that will not grow at venture scale. Think about how Mailchimp started - small ambition, focused solution to an email template problem, that grew into something greater than expected. Start building, start playing, start dreaming - see where it takes you - chase your dream. It's a lot easier to get inspired when you interact with people who have a common interest - leverage your communities, networks, and the resources that are available. Shortage of talent, high demand for technology globally, will lead to a shift in remote work, and create opportunities for growth - the world is becoming smaller. Remote work will allow technology to spread much further. Bookings over ARR - a question you can ask - is your ACV (annual contract value) growing or declining? Performance is measured by bookings growth. The last 20 years - we put success on the shoulders of the customer. We transferred costs. This shifted to the vendor being responsible for success, as payments shifted to overtime vs upfront. Cloud & SaaS changed the landscape of adoption Next 20 years - the software will make us better at our jobs. What does the next salesforce look like? It will be about making the end-user better, within each core application. The intelligence will amplify capabilities. Show Links @villi on twitter villi@twosigmaventures.com Villi on ARR vs Bookings Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course

Continuous Learning, Creativity, and an Awesome Future - with Guest Don MacPherson Mike is joined by Don MacPherson. Don is the Founder of 12 Geniuses where they are educating leaders of today and building leaders of tomorrow. Questions Answered: What are some things you are excited about that will improve sales? What are the risks with technology? How can we be more creative around continuous learning? Why should we consider ways to be creative? Key Takeaways: Mobility has really changed the way we work. AI will really change Sales - more collaboration will be needed. The mountain of data we have will be a game changer. 127 new devices are added to the internet every second! Expand your ability to respond to the ups and downs of everyday. Be a continuous learner. Sales is a creative job. You have the ability to look at a situation and see it in different ways. Work with new people coming into the organization to help them discover the "language." Remember how great the world is. Show Links: 12 Geniuses on Twitter 12 Geniuses on LinkedIn www.12geniuses.com Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course

Masterminds - Time to Invest In Yourself With Others Mike and Jody are joined by Dan Cockerell as they discuss the benefits of attending a Mastermind. Questions Answered: What were some moments from the Mastermind that struck you? What is the benefit of a Mastermind? Why should we seek out a Mastermind event? Key Takeaways: Clarity, simplify and focus Don't fall in love with the idea Keep it simple - why do people want to buy your product or service? Are you able to deliver it? How will you tell the story? We are all dealing with many of the same problems within our organizations. Problems related to people, process, technology, connections, culture and change. Engaging in conversations and having those conversations help you to gain a new perspective on how others are addressing those same challenges. Masterminds are another way to open your eyes to another point of view and to help point out blindspots. It's good to have someone who isn't invested in you or your business ask the hard questions. It's crucial to talk about what attending the event meant afterwards and then do the work. Show Links: www.dancockerell.com Dan's Podcast - Come Rain or Shine Catalyst Sale Link Tree Mike's tweets as he reflected & put the work into practice Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course

Difference in Selling - B2B, B2C, Products, Services - Does it Matter? On this episode, Mike and Jody discuss whether or not there is or should be a difference in selling different products/services. Questions Answered: Is there a different approach to selling different things/items i.e. products vs services or B2C vs B2B? Key Takeaways: There is not a difference in the foundational items related to Sales. Sales is about connecting a problem that exists in the market with a solution that exists in the market. Think through the problem you solve in the market. Put yourself in the shoes of the person with the problem. The challenge as a Sales Professional is figuring out who has the problem, why they have the problem, what they think about the problem and what they would like to do about the problem. Once you understand the problem, you can design communication and experiences to support the customer decision-making process. The fundamentals are going to stay consistent. The actual vocabulary will shift depending on what you know about your customer, your business and the sales rep approach. Show Links: Demystify Sales - the course catalystsale.com www.jodymaberry.com Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit

On this episode, Mike is joined by Clint Clarkson. Clint is the Founder of eLearning Alchemy and is an author of L& D Scenes - Comics for Learning Professionals. Mike and Clint discuss the value of comics in business today as well as how to get our creativity flowing. Questions Answered: Why can we convey an interesting message in comics? How do you do it so it doesn't take away from the story? How does spacing impact communication? Why is it important for someone to relate, but not feel attacked? What are the negative connotations of sales? How can we initiate the creative process? Key Takeaways: Abstraction allows people to recognize it as a human experience while keeping it far enough away that they don't feel attacked. There is often confusion around engagement and interaction. Engagement = "brains-on" activities while interaction = "hand-on" activities. Questions automatically make a person think. We can't communicate or learn effectively if we are in fight or flight mode The moment you are trying to actively sell without adding value, people will find a way to tune you out and get rid of you. People are the heroes of their own story. When working on being more creative, ask how what you are working on can be more human. Fun, engaging, interesting. We are all creative in some way. Show Links: Clint on LinkedIn Clint on Twitter Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course Linktr.ee

A Buyer-Centric Approach to Sales Mike is joined by Tom Williams, CEO of DealPoint. They discuss sales process, common mistakes and taking a buyer-centric approach to Sales. Questions Discussed: What does trusted advisor mean? Why are we uncomfortable with the silence? What is buyer-centric selling? How can a buyer-centric approach help to reduce the risk of a stalled sales cycle? How do you build trust with customers? Key Takeaways: When we are talking "at" the customer, we are making a lot of assumptions. Ask mindfully, "what about what I said made you want to take this meeting?" Don't be afraid of the pause. Trust comes from your ability to show that you are in it for their success. Have a consistent set of questions for your Sales Reps to use If you truly care about the problem you solve, you can take a buyer-centric approach. Be sure to determine if their initiatives align with the problem you solve. As you solve problems with multiple customers, you start to see things that your customer cannot. Take a vested interest in others and good things tend to happen. Show Links: www.dealpoint.io Tom on LinkedIn Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course

On this episode, Mike and Jody discuss the importance of communication in sales and the steps we can take to improve. Questions Answered: Why do we struggle with communication? How can we practice? What can we do to ensure that what people hear is what we believe we said? When it comes to asking questions, what is your favorite approach? Key Takeaways: We can always get better Record role play sessions with members of your team and then listen to the session Ask reflective questions Ask questions to validate Get back to basics and use who, what, where, why, when and how. Don't try to over-think the room Qualification should focus on understanding the customer story Understanding how and when to ask questions is really powerful Thank You Please send listener questions and feedback to hello@catalystsale.com or contact us directly on twitter, facebook or LinkedIn. This podcast is brought to you by Catalyst Sale - you can learn more about Catalyst Sale, and the products and services we provide via the following links. Growth Acceleration - Plateau Breakthrough Product Market Fit Demystify Sales - the course